In mid-winter pike fishing gets tougher. They usually move out of the bays, however, some bays will hold fish all winter if the water is deep enough.
Most pike are positioned off of deep points and drop-offs in the mid-winter. As the weather warms up and the ice starts to thin, pike will move back into
the shallow, weedy bays and they will feed heavily until ice-out.
In rivers, you can find pike in the backwaters and in weedy bays. The fish will be in these backwater areas as long as there is enough oxygen. If the ice
becomes too thick and the oxygen starts to sag, pike will move into areas with some current because of the higher oxygen levels.
Most anglers use tip-ups for winter pike. In states where you can use multiple lines, fishermen will use tip-ups while they jig with another line. Some
anglers will fish in groups and they will set up tip-ups all over to cover an entire bay or sunken island. Popular baits are live bait fish in the 6 to 12 inch
range. Dead bait fish also produce good results. When fishing with large bait fish, you must use a single hook with a treble hook set up as a stinger
hook. This will allow you to hook into many more fish. 25 to 40 pound Dacron line or nylon-coated line work best because they don’t soak up water and
they won’t freeze when the line is above the water.
Anglers that prefer to move around should try jigs. You can cover a lot of different holes quickly when you are jigging with one rod. Flashy or bright
colored jigs work best. If the fish are biting short, slow down and try using smaller jigs.
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